There is an increasingly widely held view that snacking may actually help with weight loss. But before you reach for the Tim Tams or those favourite packet of chips, it is important to understand why this is the case and what is meant by the term ‘snack’.
The theory behind eating smaller, more frequent meals, is that spreading out one’s calorie intake more evenly over the course of the day helps to not only regulate appetite and boost nutrient intake, but also improve the body’s ability to control glucose levels and potentially even help keep metabolism higher.
Snacks should replace other food
For snacking to be helpful to weight loss, it goes without saying that it is crucial that the snack is at worst a substitute for food you would have otherwise consumed, rather than add to your total calorie intake.
When utilised in this way, snacking can be helpful in weight loss if it means that a person gets to one of their main meals not feeling hungry. Doing so helps to avoid overeating during these main meals as it takes time for the body and the brain to realise it is full and no longer needs food, thereby helping control your overall calorie intake.
Healthy snacks can also help satisfy cravings or deal with unsettling emotions which might otherwise lead to poor and/or excessive food consumption.
Seven tips for snacking and weight loss
So how do we do snack AND lose weight in practise? The following are some useful snacking tips that studies suggest are key.
Tip 1: Avoid high fat/sugar snacks. These tend to give you a short spike in energy, but leave you flat shortly afterwards. This is because they release a large amount of sugar quickly into your bloodstream, which your body will then remove out of your system quickly to be stored as fat.
Tip 2: Choose low GI foods. Foods with a low glycemic index (GI) release their sugars slowly into the blood stream, ensuring that the snack satisfies our hunger and our energy needs for a longer period of time. This also ensures you do not feel hungry again when the energy hit rolls off. Examples of low GI foods are most fruit and vegetables, nuts, beans and whole grains.
Tip 3: Eat foods that are high in fibre and essential nutrients. Again good examples are fruit & vegetables, beans, whole grains and lean meats.
Tip 4: Choose snacks that are balanced with small amounts of protein and fats that are good for heart health. Balanced snacks not only feel more filling, but they also take longer to digest and supply energy over a longer period of time. Plant foods such as nuts and seeds, soy foods, avocados and olive and canola oils offer helpful fats, while nuts and soy also offer protein to balance carbohydrate-rich foods.
Tip 5: Go for snacks that you can prepare and store in advance. That way a lack of time will not get in the way of having a healthy and nutritious snack. Again nuts, beans and fruits are great examples when you are on the go.
Tip 6: Aim for snacks with a calorie count of around 250-300 calories. For an average person, this will provide sufficient energy and nutrition to satisfy you until your next meal. Anything short of this will not satisfy hunger, increasing the chances that you will increase your overall food intake. Anything more and you also risk increasing your overall calorie count.
Tip 7: Add a little of something indulgent. If, like me, you love chocolate, then add a little to your healthy snack to satisfy that chocolate craving without blowing out your calories.
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